Archive for the ‘LXer’ Category

Recently I’ve been talking with Richard Stallman for 2 – 3 weeks on the subject of running free-software. ( Richard Stallman is the president and founder of the FSF or Free Software Foundation. ) What I got out of reading Richard Stallman’s writings and e-mails was that free-software as in freedom is software that has it’s source code released to the public and the public is allowed to modify and redistribute that software as well. This does not necessarily mean free as in cost. This includes drivers and firmware as well.

If your running hardware that has non-free software / firmware in it you can’t use it because that’s against the FSF and if that hardware requires non-free drivers you can’t use it according to the FSF.

I did research to find hardware that supported a modern PCI Express video card with 3D that would work with the free drivers. I also looked for motherboards.

What I did find was obsolete and would require me to spend more money to aquire. At the time I was trying to start a business charging kids to play games on my computers. (playing just free-software games would have been ok).

So now we have rulled out free-software only GNU/Linux distributions and hardware out of the picture. What is the alternitive?

Open Source / FOSS is the alternative. Businesses and countless others such as Ubuntu have went to Open Source / FOSS which is the idea that non-free software and free-software can coexist. This sounds great doesn’t it? The problem is that these people get lazy and don’t try to make free-software and become independent of non-free software any more. Instead they get money from big companies like DELL, IBM, HP, ect. to put non-free drivers in their kernels so that the vendor’s hardware will be supported with Ubuntu’s kernel even though it has non-free software in it and it will work on almost any computer. Sounds great Right? But how does this help make us independent from Corporate America and all the non-free software? It doesnt.

The other problem is companies like NVIDIA are making it harder to use their proprietary drivers. ATI however has the respect of the FSF for now. NVIDIA drivers for newer cards and chipsets don’t seem to play friendly with GNU/Linux distributions unless you download Ubuntu’s latest kernel. Why? Why are all the rest of us left in the dark? Why must we become dependent on Ubuntu and Corporate America?

A perfect example of this is Ubuntu 8.04. It’s kernel is not even up to date enough to support the newest NVIDIA drivers that are out there and in some instances you can’t install it. I based the latest version of Ultumix TM off of Ubuntu. I updated the kernel and guess what it works! But why should you have to update the kernel every month. Any GNU/Linux hardcore hacker will tell you that’s a bad idea and will make your programs and system unstable.

The thing is whenever it’s possible to use free software to do your work you should but you should not be limited to just using free-software all together. Likewise the developers should work harder to create free-software, drivers, firmware, ect. We also need hardware made by companies that support the free-software idea that the drivers and frimware should be free-software.

The other major problem in FOSS is that the different distros and communities fight with each other to get to the top of distrowatch.com and say they are the best. I’ve heard officials from the Ubuntu community say to me that they believe that their distro is the best one out there and that users should only be presented with Ubuntu. Why I asked? Because of the confusion of choice they answered. Free-software is all about freedom of choice and not a one world takeover. Lets get back to the GPL guys. And worst of all the people who are really in charge of these projects have lost control. Their moderators go wild in the forums and make people angry and ban people for nothing.

So now that that’s all clearly spelled out to you take two tablets of Tylenol as we discuss the solution.

The Freedom-Software Community TM or FSC can and will solve all of these problems if Linux distributions join in. The FSC has not officially or publicly announced it’s presence before. That’s because they are still working on writing it’s philosophy for people to follow.

Here is the basic idea:

You are expected to use free software when:

1. There is hardware that is supported by free-software and the hardware is in no way more restricted than when it’s using non-free software.2. The abilities of the non-free software that are needed are not met by the free software.3. When the expenses of using free-software are affordable. Example of when this would not be the case: You want to run the hardware that supports free-software and has all the abilities of similar hardware that only supports non-free software but the hardware that supports the free-software is either obsolete or too expensive for the average consumer.

At any other time you are expected to try and use free-software and even if these conditions above don’t exist you are expected to try to support free-software in whatever way you can.

There are more aspects to the Freedom-Software Community that prevent fighting and arguing and promote unity and community. You will have to wait for the announcement in the news to hear that unless your an active member of the Ultumix TM Project.

I have decided to do it everyone. I am going to record audio for everyone to listen to everyday. Unlike podcasting, I will be oggcasting. Since I happen to be too lazy to learn enough about XML, I figured I would use this blog in order to announce when a new show has come out. I have no plans on using any third party website for podcasting in the future, because most of them require MP3 files, which has patent issues, and thus hurts independent artists. In order to encourage more people to use OGG, one must already be using it themselves, hence why I am doing The *NIXEDCAST in this format.

If you remember a little while ago the Wikipedia informed me that I had no freedom of speech there. After that I started www.OpenWikipedia.org. Then I got a phone call from a Wikipedia attorney that informed me that I needed to change my name.

So I sat up a new site at WetPaint.com called PediaOpeness.org. I was searching for a logo similar to the Wikipeida‘s Puzzle sphere except that I wanted it to be more open. I found a logo I could use on DeviantArt.com.

I decided that I would not put down the Wikipedia but rather allow other sites to do that for me. I also allowed the Wikipedia to state it’s own definition of what it was by quoting them.

I got several responses to this post and even though the responses were negative it’s still site content which means my site is growing.

“I’m sorry you haven’t learned anything, but I do have a suggestion. I sometimes follow the nixedreport, and I recall your friend asking posters to put in a certain format for their name as the author. You haven’t been doing that. Maybe it is ok with him, I don’t know, but I sure would want to not be associated with the posts you put there.”

Also if you are having any problems in the Wikipedia excluding you at all or posting something that is wrong just put “TELL THE WIKITRUTH” in your message without the “” and with the capitals and it will have these people looking at your page in no time.

Tux at the Olympus Rally (X-Games Tryout) was a success. We had 2 4×4 foot signs up at Area 1 and Area 2 and one sign each at area 3 and 4. People asked me about the signs as well. The video and the rest of the pictures will be up soon on the internet at www.ultumix.com just click 2008 Olympus Rally.

NEW!* Call: (865) 329-7705 You will be charged as if you were making a local phone call!

You read right! Watch ESPN on the 19th and 20th. Ultumix GNU/Linux will be on ESPN this weekend in Garfield County. As you see here on the Map there are 6 courses. 4 of these races have spectator areas. I will be putting up 2 billboards at each of these spectator areas with the Tux Penguin and ULTUMIX.COM written on top. Click Here To See The Bill Board Design. The Race is known as the Olympus Rally. since they will be driving past 2 spectator spots every day I will be making 4 signs and posting 2 at each of the two tracks each day. I don’t know if I will sell many computers or get any donations but I’m sure that these signs will be worth the $10.00 laminate board I’m putting them on. 🙂 If your in the local area and this race was anything like last year’s race I hope to see you there.

Ladies and Gentlemen I can finally say that my worst nightmare has become a reality. So what could be so bad? Well back when I was younger I thought of a computer virus that could literally destroy a computer. How? Well there is this little chip that controls all of the power settings and the boot sequence of your entire computer. Some call it the BIOS and some call it the CMOS but whatever you call it it’s the flash ROM thats in your computer. So I thought to myself what if someone made a virus that reprogrammed the BIOS / CMOS to tell the rest of the computer to put out maximum watts and volts that were possible and fry the machine? Then I was approached by a man that told me of such a virus that exists about 6 months ago. I didn’t think anything like this was out on the internet but I guess now I’m wrong.

I spoke to some computer techs in the Lewiston Clarkston area that work on Microsoft Windows Vista and XP computers. They told me that there are two viruses that do two different things and one of them makes your computer useless. Evidently one of these new viruses does reprogram your BIOS or CMOS but it does not fry your computer. All this virus does is make your computer into a door stop by telling the BIOS / CMOS to never let your computer start again. What’s even better is if you pull the Hard Drive out and run it in another computer the virus puts itself into that computer as well.

The second virus removes all administrative rights to your computer and gives them to some other guy somewhere else who now controls your computer. We don’t know what this guy uses your computer for but we can only assume it’s not good.

In case your wondering I have seen computers with these viruses for myself and they are real.

So why didn’t I know about these viruses? Well it’s pretty simple really. I don’t get Viruses on my computer and if one of my customers gets one they usually choose to switch to the GNU/Linux system and I just back up all their personal information, pictures, ect. and copy them over. This does put me at a bit of a disadvantage because I am out of touch with the frustration that most Windows users experience from Viruses, Intruders, Spyware, Trojans, and Adaware.

In an effort to bring attention to some of the lesser known distros out there, a new e-mail address has been created. It may be used for purposes of announcing a new release, updates, news, and more. One question that comes to mind may be, “What is the point to all of this?” There are already distro news sites such as Distrowatch, but some distributions are bound to not be listed on even the most mammoth of sites. There are distros out there that are not getting attention, despite potential technical merit. In other words, there is a void that needs to be filled.

For those who are a part of a distro and who want to make announcements concerning their distro, here is the e-mail address: distros@thenixedreport.com. The following is a list of subject lines that may be used to simply communication:

Release: Whether it is alpha or a final release. By using this in your subject line, you are indicating that a distro has been released.

Update: This can pertain to updates for the distro in question, such as new versions of software suites or security updates. Since online repositories are often used, information pertaining to repository updates, such as changing repository addresses and more, may also use this word in their subject line.

Site: Any news pertaining to the distro’s website may use this word.

Staff: Any news pertaining to changes in developers, webmasters, etc… This can come in handy when announcing a new developer coming on board or a new leader being elected (depending on the distro).

Of course, when using either of the above, it may be a good idea to indicate the name of the distro before the word. The format would be as follows: [Distro Name] [News Type] For example, if Linux Mint were about to change the location of one of their repositories, the following would work: Mint Update

Information on Released Distros

If a new release is available, then the version number of said distro should suffice. However, it is recommended to offer as much information as possible. For example, what version of the Linux kernel does it use? If a different kernel is used altogether (other than Linux) then what version is that kernel? Which web browser is included? What about e-mail clients and office suites? How about the version of X.org or XFree86?

Where that Information Goes

The information provided will be posted in the news section on THE *NIXED REPORT website. If a longer release is available on the distro’s website, a link will be created so the rest of the announcement can be read.

The above picture was taken today after looking at my Ktorrent Server.

Yesterday people could not stop complaining about how long it was taking to get Ultumix GNU/Linux and over 23 people were leeching off of it. What is amassing is that this 4 GB download went from 23 lechers and 1 – 2 seeders to 8 seeders and 1 lecher in such a short time.

This is why it’s important to leave your torrent client open for at least 24 hours after you finish downloading so that you upload to others and get more credit. Also when you share more and get more points for sharing you end up getting faster download rates.

Thank you to those of you who made this possible. Also if you want to download Ultumix GNU/Linux Gamer Edition the time is now while there are still 8 seeders. This probably won’t last long.

My name is Justin Breithaupt with Computer Rescue and a customer of mine just recently ordered 20 PCs from me. I have some contacts that can get me computers at unbelievably low prices.

These PCs will be as follows:

2.0 Ghz or faster single core AMD AM2 processor,

80 GB HD Space,

1 GB RAM,

Card Reader,

DVD Burner,

128 MB Nvidia PCI Express x16 video card.

Ultumix GNU/Linux

My normal selling price is $300.00 but I will give a $50.00 discount to students, charities, churches, ect.

Call for details about adding 17″ LCD monitors for very low prices. Quantity lowers the prices.

1-208-750-5628

This offer will only be available until Tuesday April 1st 2008. This is no April Fools!

Also ask about our cheap laptops.

(money received from this sale will go towards expanding my business in my local town, helping Ultumix GNU/Linux by hiring programmers to help out, and buying a few of these computers to keep them in stock)

Laugh at me if you will. However, I have never seen a person with the passion that they have for helping out kids who need a computer to do their assignments now that many schools down in Texas are requiring one or the alternative….alternate assignments, which can be a humiliating thing. I have also never seen a FOSS advocate with so much energy. Yes, I am making a spectacle of this, because there are times when a steering wheel needs to be yanked in times of an emergency. This is one of them.

Any situation can be assessed as pretty dire when it involves a vehicle that just will not budge anymore. However, when the wife of the advocate starts pleading for assistance, then that should be an indication of how dire said situation actually is. I myself have no choice but to follow the orders of helios. I was asked not to give a single drop in that bucket at this point. I have no choice, because I am completely broke until Thursday. However, what I can do will be more powerful than any amount of cash I can drop down in the near future. By clicking here, you will be taken to the appropriate page for donation purposes. So please, if you can, help this person out a little bit.